Pizza My Heart, Tony Gemignani win top prizes in pizza competition

Did you know that the International Pizza Competition is happening in Las Vegas right now?

It is, and it’s sponsored by Pizza Today Magazine, and there are a bunch of Bay Area pizza people winning competitions down there.

Pizza My Heart — a local chain with over 20 locations on the Peninsula and in the South Bay — became the first American pizza to ever win the “Best Traditional Pizza,” per NBC. In the world!

Tony Gemignani of Tony’s Pizza Napoletana is there, too. He competed — and won — as part of the USA team in the “Best of the Best” Pizza Challenge against Italy, Canada and Australia.

Each team received a box of secret ingredients to make a pizza with, like on Iron Chef. Items included fennel, sausages, smoked gouda and roasted peppers. Gemignani’s winning pie was called Tre Forni, and he cooked it in three different ovens: first the gas oven to give it a crunchy shell, then an electric oven for a quick and soft texture to form, and lastly, a wood-burning oven to give it char.